Maus was the first graphic novel I have had the pleasure to read (well, that’s not true there was a western comic that belonged to my uncle when he was a child, but I digress). I have a certain fondness for the story, maybe because I am a World War II junkie or that my family is Russian/Polish and was affected by the war, or possibly just because it was merely entertaining to read. I don’t know but the fact that I get to do a brief analysis of it now brings a smile to my face.

Since the first two novels that we have gone through thus far in the course have been tales of action heroes with fantastic sketching, intricate story lines, and posses great explanatory words like “Poom!”, “Bamm!”, “Fap!” and “Ktang!”. I would have to say that one of the best parts is the amazing color. It brings vivid and bold new life to the 2-D world that we enter as readers. It shows emotion, depth and takes the audience into the world of the story. Maus is very different. The novel is completely based in black and white with subtle shades of grey shading. Tick bold en like strokes replace the thin, delicate, quick lines of the superhero comics. No color is used to help bring the story to life. This books relies mostly on the story itself to help the reader along. The dull hues add to the somber and morose topic of the Holocaust. Being black and white also adds to the realness of the story. There is no sugar coating or bold colors to entrance one’s mind. They are the cold hard “black & white facts” of the world’s history. If Spiegelman had decided to make his masterpiece in color, I doubt it would have had the same effect. Maybe that can be contested seeing as how the protagonists are Mice, the Nazis are Cats and the Polish are Pigs. This is the only fantasy that Art added to his artwork.

Another interesting idea about the fact that this comic is fully black & white is the way it plays with the characters on the page. Because Spiegelman has chosen animals as his characters, they now lack the distinguishing features that humans have that make each one of us unique individuals. This makes the reader more aware of who the speaker in each frame is and what exactly they are doing. If the speaker is put into a large group of his/her peers in a drawing, the animal is now lost in the crowd. This is clever for a couple of reasons. Spiegelman is making sure that the reader is coherent and absorbing his story as well as representing each culture. The only thing that makes them different is the clothing that they wear. All the Jew’s look the same, all the Nazis look alike and yes, the same goes for the Pols. Even the males and the the females have the same physical characteristics, proving that we really are the same and no one is better than another.